The sugar mills notified the sugarcane growers that they will raise the offering price of sugarcane to K120,000 per tonne in the upcoming 2023-2024 sugarcane season.
The sugar mills’ notification released last early August stated that the buying price would be K110,000 per tonne of sugarcane for the 2023-2024 sugarcane season. The mills set higher prices to K120,000 per tonne in early October.
Therefore, the company encouraged the growers to ramp up production and expand the cultivation acres.
The company set the sugarcane floor price at K90,000-100,000 per tonne last season. This year, in addition to the price rise of sugar, the company offers higher prices to deal with high cultivation input costs of the growers and entice them to increase production, sugarcane and sugar businesspersons shared information.
However, the sugarcane growers called for the sugar mills to maximize the offering prices as much as they can amid the rocketing fuel prices and fertilizer prices this year.
This year, sugar prices hit the highest owing to the low stocks and lack of import from foreign countries. The prevailing price surged to K3,800 per viss in mid-October from below K1,000 per viss in the 2019-2020 FY.
Following the soaring sugar price, with a view to facilitating sugarcane growers, Ngwe Yi Pale Sugar Company has informed the growers to contribute K200,000 per acre in advance for the 2023-2024 season if they add new acres of sugarcane plantation.
Myanmar’s annual sugar production is estimated at 450,000 tonnes. Myanmar earlier sent sugar to China and Viet Nam beyond self-sufficiency. At present, it is delivered to Viet Nam only, said U Win Htay, vice-chair of the association.
Sugarcane is commonly found in the upper Sagaing Region, followed by northern Shan State. It is also found in the western and eastern Bago Region, Yangon Region and Mandalay Region.
The sugarcane is grown in December-January. It can be harvested from November to February of the following years. The sugarcane growing rotation cycle lasts four years in Myanmar. — NN/EM
